Noah Davis: The Painter Who Made Emotion Visible | Hammer Museum Exhibition 2025

Step into the luminous world of Noah Davis (1983–2015)—a visionary artist who reshaped figurative painting and community through soul-stirring art and radical generosity. From his haunting masterpiece "Painting for My Dad" to his co-founding of the Underground Museum in a historically Black and Latinx neighborhood of Los Angeles, Davis's legacy is one of tenderness, brilliance, and inclusion. Curated with deep care by Wells Fray-Smith (Barbican Centre, London), this Hammer Museum exhibition brings together over 50 works—including paintings, sculptures, and works on paper—offering a comprehensive look at Davis’s short but powerful career. Hear from Fray-Smith on Davis’s emotional depth, use of everyday Black life as inspiration, and how Los Angeles shaped and embraced his work.